Oh, Baby. Boomer.

E-Science News has come out with an article detailing a 65 year-long study on Boomers by the Medical Research Council of Britain. The title of the article alone, “Baby Boomer Study Shows Importance of Childhood,” is vital to understanding how they become who they become. Mainly this involves the fact that, after years of research, scientists have as yet not found anyone who started life as an adult. This will be bad news for as yet unborn generations of Americans who were hoping to avoid years of sibling rivalry and having to learn the names of all the states.

The life-long study, followed 5,000 men and women since their birth in the same week of March 1946. No one knows how scientists knew back then that this generation of people would be the first of the Baby Boomers, although rumor has it that the babies started giving hospital nursery workers the peace sign and in one hospital, attempted to organize a rock concert.

The study found that social class differences seen in birth weight and infant survival persisted well into childhood. It also demonstrated the importance of parents being involved in their child’s schooling, providing the evidence that equally able children from poorer families had fewer educational opportunities. Also, babies who had a lower birth weight tended to have higher blood pressure in adulthood. Those of the lowest birth weight who grew faster post-natally, or had an earlier puberty, have been shown to have a higher cardiovascular risk. Heavier baby girls were more likely to develop breast cancer.

The study caused thousands of babies to petition the government for documentation that would allow them to leave the lower class and enter the middle class. They were told that all middle class slots were currently taken, but “the study influenced the design of the NHS and shaped the law, allowing midwives to give pain relief to women in labour and improving visiting rights for children in hospital.” The babies said that wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.

As Baby Boomers now enter retirement, newly collected data from the study will provide evidence about the prevalence of health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis and mobility problems. In today’s aging society, the new data will be “crucial for those planning future social and health care services.”

It will also be crucial for those Boomers who would like to have a future, period.

We became who we are because you could not leave the table until all your food was eaten even those disgusting lima beans. Your mother hit you with the big wooden salad spoon at least half a dozen times a day and you had to do homework till 7 AM when it was time to go back to school next morning so you could get more homework. We also had to go to church, brush our teeth with that disgusting tasting Crest and kept our finger nails clean. We also stood to recite the pledge of allegiance and prayed to God to stop mother from hitting us with the big wooden salad spoon and for the teacher to forget to give us homework. We got to go to Mrs Gordon’s house on Thursday to watch Batman because she was the only one that had a color TV. We had baseball cards too. We turned out OK, I think, in spite of it all. PS You cannot be a Boomer unless you are at least 60.

I think today kids should be worried about having a childhood—over-scheduled, over-tired, parents petitioning for more, learning to read before you can put on your coat and zip it up, to much loud, to much busy, and to little time for imagination and play.
I would like an upper class spot tho—@territerri has a point.

Not to get all metaphysical on you (although that’s always such a thrill), we begin the process at birth. We just don’t notice it until a lot later. I keep saying, and I really mean it, the years after 50 have been the best. THE BEST. And that in no way takes anything away from the years I raised my kids. I’m talking about creativity, clarity, power, authenticity, and basically not giving a shit about what anyone else thinks.

Lucky girl. Years ago, I had a friend who used to tell me all the time that she felt like she was born at the wrong time. She was a child in the late 60s but all the music and the energy, etc she ever felt connected to was from that time period.

Apparently the researchers haven’t seen ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons’. I found myself questioning the scientific feasibility of it more than once, but then I told myself– it’s Brad Pitt. And Kate Blanchett. Just sit back and enjoy.

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